Female Marine: Why women should face military draft

The top officers from the Marines and the Army told a Senate committee that women should have to register for selective service in case of a draft.
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We can't have it both ways, so expect the same from women and men, including Selective Service.

Capt. Kristen Griest (R) and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver (L) with their Ranger tabs after the graduation ceremony of the United States Army's Ranger School on Aug. 21, 2015 at Fort Benning, Ga.(Photo: Getty Images)

Congress should accept the Senate’s decision to require all United States citizens ages 18-26 to register for Selective Service.

Requiring women to register would not only eliminate a final barrier to full citizenship, it would significantly expand the pool of qualified individuals from which to draw should we ever need to use the draft again.

The Service Women’s Action Network supports requiring women to register. We believe that men and women should be held to the same standards and expectations for the performance of their duties, whether as members of the military or as American citizens.

A milestone: Women can serve in every military role

During World War II, the Marines used the slogan “Free a Man to Fight” as a way to encourage women to volunteer for military service to fill administrative and support jobs. More than 350,000 women answered the call. But when the war was over they were discharged and sent home, regardless of whether they wanted to continue to serve. It wasn’t until 1948, as a result of an act of Congress, that women were permitted to serve in the peacetime military.

Since 1948, women have served in increasing numbers in an expanding range of military occupations. Today, service women and women veterans make up an increasingly large and consequential demographic in the U.S. With more than 50,000 women veterans, Arizona also has a proud history of military service by its female citizens. And their numbers and roles in the military continue to grow.

This year marks the first time in history when qualified women have the opportunity to serve in every occupation and unit of the U.S. military. The decision to open all combat positions to women was a long-overdue acknowledgment of the significant roles women have played in combat, most recently as participants in the longest period of war in U.S. history.

Competence doesn't follow gender lines

Despite the military’s growing realization that competence and not gender should be the deciding factor for job selection, some members of Congress still don’t believe women are necessary to our national defense. According to these critics, women should not be drafted, because they are first and foremost daughters, wives and mothers.

Men too fill important roles as sons, husbands and fathers.

The draft does not automatically put an American on the frontlines of war. Draftees serve in every military occupation, including many support roles, and are not confined to the infantry. With just a fraction of the population able to meet the qualifications to serve, it would be illogical to exclude half of the population from being drafted in time of national emergency because of gender.

Follow McCain and McSally's lead

Kate Germano(Photo: Service Women's Action Network)

Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, Arizona’s combat veteran lawmakers, have voted in favor of requiring women to register. Congress should listen to their experienced voices and act to ensure that if a draft were ever required, our country would have access to the highest caliber, most qualified citizen-soldiers, regardless of gender.

This step would also eliminate the misguided perception that women are not capable of or willing to assume their share of the national defense burden. Until women are required to take equal responsibility for the defense of the nation, it will be difficult to claim that equal opportunity and expectations for performance truly exist. We can’t have it both ways.

The elimination of the ban on combat jobs is ushering in a new era for women in the military. But it will be the inclusion of women in the draft that will permanently destroy gender-based barriers to service and ensure that our military remains most ready when our nation calls. Congress should follow the lead of Sen. McCain and Congresswoman McSally and allow women the ability to gain their full rights to citizenship.

If Congress continues to deem selective service necessary, we must not exclude high caliber individuals from the draft simply because of gender. Our national security demands it.

Kate Germano is the chief operating officer of the Service Women’s Action Networkand a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel on terminal leave.